The silver lioness was lounging on the large branches of a tall and wide tree. She was feeling particularly contemplative that day, stuck thinking about the past. Dayax had always been driven, even from the time she'd been a small cub. She had always wanted to be strong, strong like her father ever since she took her first steps. She had never been a cub to lay around crying and whining for someone to do something for her. As soon as she could walk, she walked, as soon as she could run, she ran. She even practiced hunting for bugs and small animals to help out with her dad. Dayax had never been behind in anything that she did. She looked up to her father and wanted nothing more than to be just like him. He was everything to her, he and her sister were all that she had in the world.
Her mother had died shortly after giving birth to her and her sister from complications. Dayax had been told by her father that her mother had been very pregnant at a time when the two of them were surviving on very little food. In the end it hadn't been enough for her mother to sustain herself and her cubs. So once she'd gone into labor, her mother had only been able to give birth to two of her cubs before running out of energy and collapsing in exhaustion before the other cubs could be born. Some time after, she died before she could muster the energy to birth her remaining cubs, and they subsequently died with her. She'd been unable to put forth any more effort in her weak and listless state.
Her father had been heavily shocked and disturbed by the tragic death of his mate. From the time that Dayax and her sister were born, their father made sure to always care for and provide for his two little daughters. They were all that he had left of the mate that he'd lost. As long as he lived, he swore to not allow his cubs to starve like his mate had. Even though the availability of food had been out of his control despite his best efforts, he had always blamed himself for the loss of his daughters' mother. He was harsh with his daughters at times due to his constant worry for their well-being and safety, but he also did what he could to make sure that his cubs knew that he loved them and would do anything for them.
Between Dayax and her sister, Dayax had always clearly been the leader of the two of them. They were complete opposites. Her sister had been a soft-hearted and gentle individual with feelings and emotions that were easily bruised. Dayax had always thought of her as an annoying crybaby, but did whatever she could to help take care of her. Dayax always took charge of their activities when their father was out hunting, mostly by playing look out and finding places to hide and spy on any approaching strangers. Spending all of their time with their grieving father, they did not get the opportunity to socialize with many others. Their father made sure to keep them hidden most of the time and away from prying eyes. He was selfish with them and constantly paranoid to lose them to say the least. The long lasting effects of the death of his beloved mate would keep a tight grip over him for the rest of his days. As they grew, the older the two of them got the more the more they began to resemble their late mother and the more controlling their father became over them.
Of course, the more mature Dayax and her sister became, the more they began to blossom into their full personalities and individuality. Dayax was becoming more independent and adventurous, wanting to go with her father on hunting trips and learn how to fight. Her sister on the other had was becoming more and more interested in socializing with others her age. The rogue lands spread far and wide, but they had seen others in passing here and there. Her sister was wanting interactions such as finding friends and being part of a community. She'd even questioned their father about potentially joining a pride where there would be others to help with acquiring food. Of course their father vehemently rejected the idea, not wanting there to be others around his two daughters and ultimately face the potential of them no longer needing him. He needed them to need him, he needed them to look to him for everything. He treated his girls like young cubs well into their adolescence and frequently fought with them over their budding desire to seek out their own lives and destinies.
It all came to a head eventually, when Dayax and her sister were at the end of their adolescence and were just barely on the edge of adulthood, the two girls had had enough of their father's increasingly controlling ways. They were craving their freedom and desperate to get it. So, one day while he was out hunting for them, the two girls conspired to run away from their father together. They planned on finding him again soon after, they just wanted to spend a little time traveling the world after being cooped for so long. Once their father found a safe place to raise his cubs, they were never allowed to leave and their father only hunted in the surrounding area. They'd never moved or traveled anywhere. They truly did love their father, but they did not want to spend forever hidden away at his side.
They decided to leave during the night while their father was sleeping. If they ran off in the day time when he was hunting they ran the risk of running into him during their escape. Unbeknownst to them, their father had sensed his daughters' unusual behavior and had only pretended to sleep that night. Soon after they crept out of the den their father silently rose and crept after them at a distance.
That night would turn out to be the worst night of her life. She and her sister made it quite a way away and were well out in the open before their father revealed his presence to them. Needless to say the two girls were shocked and dismayed at the revelation. He scolded them both for their foolish plan and demanded they return home immediately.
Unfortunately the sound of their voices attracted some much unwanted attention. It was a roaming band of males that were looking to get paid for the delivery of young lionesses to a group of slavers. They approached the family with coldness and arrogance. The three of them had fought with all their might, but the night still ended with the two beaten girls being drug away into the darkness and their father dead on the ground.
Above all else, it was the lioness' worst memory. After all, the escape plan had been her idea in the first place.
